Norway Expat Forum - Living in Scotland but working in Norway.

Hey all, I moved to Norway in January and brought my family (Wife and two kids) we are currently renting a house in Stavanger and I work for a large Oil and Gas Service company. We have been trying for over 6 months to get a Mortgage for a house but the Banks will not lend us enough to buy a house, hardly enough to buy an Apartment to be honest. Ive gone from owning my own 4 bedroom house in Scotland to renting a small house in Norway with no real prospect of owning our own home in the foreseeable future.

Anyway, to cut an even longer story short we have all had enough of living here and the costs involved. I am in the middle of transferring from an On-Shore position back to an Off-shore Position but on a Rotation. When this is in place we will be moving back to Scotland. What I want to know is how does the tax work if I am living in the UK but paying Norwegian Tax?

Hi There, I see you have encountered the same problems as myself. I am a contractor, and worked on a contract basis for a large Oil & Gas Operator. I too had a large five bedroomed house in Scotland, and having worked in Norway in the past, I thought it would be easy enough to buy a suitable house, and get a mortgage, oh how wrong could I have been.

I was told that I would have to be in the Norwegian Tax System for a least a year, and the houses that are available are either way too expensive, and what can I say about the new builds, they even make Stewart Milne Houses look good.

Anyway, I am back home looking for a new job, and somewhere to live after all the problems I encountered. How naive was I!!

Even though you live in the UK, you will pay tax to the Norwegian authorities. There is a double taxation treaty between the Uk and Norway, and as such, depending on what you earn, you may still be liable to a very small contribution to the UK. Which came as a complete surprise to me, as I had always thought that Norwegian taxes where higher than the UK, but when I was out there this year, I paid tax on my earnings to Norway, and I will have to pay a small amount to the UK at the end of the year.

Remember the Norwegian tax year runs from January to December.

As I said above it all depends on what your yearly earnings are. The Company that you work for should be able to advice.

Hey, thanks for the reply. So are you back in Scotland now or are you still in Stavanger?

When you say you might still have to pay a small amount of tax in the Uk do you mean that if the tax Im paying to Norway is less than the Tax I would have paid in the Uk I have to pay the difference to the UK Tax Office?

I know what you mean about thinking the Norwegian tax being higher than the UK. Once you take N.I into account the tax is very similar. Plus in Norway you get Holiday pay and half tax in November and a reduction in tax if you are paying a morgage etc.

How long did you stay in Norway? Ie where you here long enough to do your tax returns? The reason Im asking is I see there is a 10% reduction in tax for the first two years you are living in Norway. Have you heard about this or know anything about it?